Speaker Biographies:

Event Hosts-

Chris Dunning Walton, Director at CyNam- CEO of InfoSec People

Reid Derby, Director at CyNam- Innovation Strategic Advisor for the Golden Valley Development, Reid is also our Strategic Director.

Event Speakers:

André Pienaar Founder and Chief Executive, C5 Capital- André Pienaar is the Chief Executive and the Founder of C5, a specialist venture capital firm that invests in cybersecurity, space and advanced nuclear energy with offices in Washington DC, London and Luxembourg and Vienna.

André serves on the boards of BlueVoyant and Blue Cedar in the USA; the Haven Group in Luxembourg, and ITC Secure in London. He previously served on the Board of of IronNet Cybersecurity, listed on the New York Stock Exchange and on the Boards of Omada, Balabit and Shape Security which C5 exited successfully.

André started his career at Kroll Inc in 1996 where he became the youngest managing director until the successful sale of the company to Marsh & McLennan. While at Kroll Andre helped to establish the Directorate of Special Operations (DSO) as an elite anti-corruption and law enforcement unit that combatted organised crime and terrorism in South Africa and internationally. In 2004, André founded G3, an international consulting firm that advises global companies and international law firms on risk management and cybersecurity. In 2011, he sold G3 to Europe’s leading technology investment holding company, Kinnevik listed on the Swedish Stock Exchange.

André advised the 6th Duke of Westminster on the establishment of the new Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (DNRC) in the United Kingdom as a state-of-the-art centre for the rehabilitation of injured British military veterans.

Andre serves on the Advisory Council of the US Institute for Peace (USIP), a congressionally funded US government agency. He is a member of the Atlantic Council Task Force on Critical Infrastructure and Cybersecurity. André set up the Cyber Alliance to Defend Our Healthcare, a voluntary coalition of 36 cybersecurity companies to protect the healthcare sector from cyberattacks during global pandemics.

André’s charitable interests include being a Director of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (ICMEC) and the Limitless Space Institute (LSI) a non-profit organization to develop leaders and technologies that enables space exploration.

André is a lawyer and an expert on cyber law and cybercrime. He holds two law degrees and a Masters Degree in Strategic Studies from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Leigh Chase-  Leigh is a Computer Scientist and the CTO for National Security at Roke. Responsible for the Science, Technology and Engineering programme, he describes his purpose as to “solve problems and build things”.

Leigh is passionate about the role of technology in tackling our most compelling problems – specifically those within National Security, including the sustainability of our environment and of our supply chains. His technical specialisms include cyber security, scientific computing (including computational simulation / modelling) and artificial intelligence.

His wider research interests include artificial genomics, Radio Frequency systems, controlled natural languages, data science and mechanical engineering.

Strategy Spotlight: Ecotricity– Asif’s career started working in Ofgem, UK’s energy regulator. After 3 years he moved to Powergen/E.ON – the  World’s largest investor-owned utility spending 10 years there in the UK along with International involvement.

Asif has spent over 10 years at Ecotricity, the World’s first renewable energy company) and Forest Green Rovers Football Club (FGR) – the World’s greenest Football Club. He was recently also appointed as CEO of Green Britain Group (GBG) and Vice-Chairman of FGR.

Ecotricity has been in the UK market for over 25 years, supplies 100% green electricity for its customers and reinvests profits to build and generate renewable energy.

The focus of the Green Britain Group (GBG) is at the forefront of the global green industrial revolution. Forward-thinking, innovative, low-carbon, our businesses are pioneers in new green economy.

The companies in the group are fighting the climate crisis by offering consumers and businesses another way of doing things in the industries that create the most atmospheric carbon – energy, transport and food.

Companies in GBG include: Skydiamond, Ecotalk, Britwind, Devils Kitchen and FGR.

Asif has significant Executive and Non-Executive Board level experience 

Natalie Forrestill- Natalie is a Senior Cyber Security Consultant within Atkins and has worked with central government and critical national infrastructure clients. She has experience with the Cyber Assessment Framework, ISO 27001 and the NIST Cyber Security Framework. Most recently, Natalie has been investigating how the Net Zero agenda impacts cyber security with a core focus on the risks to the security of critical national infrastructure.

Ken Munro- Technical Spotlight: Pen test partners –  Ken is a founder of Pen Test Partners, a firm of ethical hackers. He regularly blogs, and speaks about everything from Systemic Issues in the Internet of Things, to Critical National Infrastructure security and hacking cars. He also writes for various newspapers and magazines in an effort to get beyond the unhelpful scaremongering punted by many security vendors. This has led to regular appearances on TV and with online news agencies as well as the broadsheet press. Ken has become a voice for reform and legislative change, speaking at TEDx, briefing UK and US government departments, and being involved with various EU consumer councils.

Strategy Spotlight:  UKRI-  Dr Mai Bui is the Senior Research and Insight Manager at UKRI for the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge. She also works at the Centre for Environmental Policy in Imperial College London as a Senior Research Associate and co-leader of the Clean Fossil and Bioenergy Research Group. Mai has over 10 years of experience in research on carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. Her work explores the deployment potential and feasibility of CCS technologies in a range of different applications, including power, industry, hydrogen production and for CO2 removal from the atmosphere (e.g., bioenergy with CCS, or direct air capture). In 2021, she and her co-authors were awarded the Junior Moulton Medal by the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) for their research on CO2 capture technology development. Mai has published 32 papers, several technical reports, book chapters and two edited books on Carbon Capture and Storage and Greenhouse Gas Removal Technologies.